Sword and Laser

Scott Sigler’s Alive is out, and even though he didn’t mean it as Young Adult fiction it’s turned out that way. And even though he didn’t mean it to be Science Fiction, it’s turned out that way too! Find out why this all happened and why he’s happy with all of it.

This week we congratulate several more authors on TV deals, one author on getting to write more movie books, and another author on having too many potential movie deals. We also come to the conclusion that Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is all the genres.

Nick: Warner Bros., MGM and Lionsgate are among a group of studios locked in a heated bidding war for Patrick Rothfuss' mega-best-selling fantasy novel The Name of the Wind, book one in The Kingkiller Chronicle series.

Andy: Third episode in the Max Temkin/Pat Rothfuss podcast dropped this morning, featuring a lengthy discussion from Pat himself about that bidding war for the film adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle everyone was buzzing about at SDCC. Check it out! Could I love this man any more? Ask me when "The Doors of Stone" hits the shelves in 2016.

Sandra: Here's the Nominees for the 2015 World Fantasy Awards. Three Sword and Laser book picks are up for best novel (The Goblin Emperor, City of Stairs, and Area X:The Southern Reach Trilogy). Chances are good for another Sword and Laser winner.

Mark: British Fantasy Awards 2015 nominees include City of Stairs (fantasy) and Station Eleven (horror ???). One of the film/tv episodes nominated is Under the Skin, one of the oddest movies I've ever seen.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Long time listener first time caller. I noticed you’re piicks links to amazon and was wondering do you guys have a straight link that would give you guys credit for any purchases? I could guess but looking at what’s the same but would rather be sure so you get credit. Wife’s a prime member and we are both pretty good Amazon customers. If I could use a link to help you guys out some more, all the better. You guys just missed my PS4 purchase.

Thanks again for doing the show and consider this a performance review for the year. “Exceeding expectations”

One of the 500 patrons peeps (number as of now) :o)

Michael

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Yes/No/Maybe!

You know, Veronica? You're in excellent company; over here in Trondheim that yes/noing is a thing we've been doing since the dawn of time (or as long as I can remember, and who's counting)*. And funny thing; when listening to Among Others (thanks to you guys), I got a smile out of hearing that vocal quirk described as a characteristic of the North Welsh dialect. So throw away your embarrassment and embrace your expressionistic ambivalence!

(And it generally doesn't mean either yes, no or maybe; it's just a bit of verbal padding to to keep the thought in place until you shoot your mouth off ;)

We'll be at Nerdtacular 7/31 at 4:30 PM and at DragonCon in September!

Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.

We have an eyewitness report from the ALA conference in San Francisco, our initial thoughts on Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and Neil Gaiman will write some episodes for the American Gods TV series. Thank American Gods!

Kenley: The American Library Association held their annual conference in San Francisco this week. 25,000 librarians descended on Moscone. The event included a Tor panel with Vernor Vinge, Greg Bear, John Scalzi, Marie Brennan and Larry Correia.

And Ulmer Ian says: "Just came from the Tor panel. Not much interaction between panelists so no barns were burned. Was great to see Vinge, I'm a long time fan. Marie Brennans talk about what books show we miss from current technology was particularly fantastic.

In quick burn news: S&L pick and Nebula winner Goblin Emperor won best fantasy novel for the Locus Award. Be an S&L pick, win all the awards. "

It really dives into her process and what inspired her. It also highlights why the Vorkosigan Saga is still my very favorite scifi series. Namely following how culture follows technology and the development of great characters over time.

Alex - Patrick Rothfuss and Max Temkin (one of the Cards Against Humanity guys) have started a podcast, and it needs a name

---"Hi Veronica and Tom, We are in San Diego at WesterCon! We had a good reads/ S&L coffee klatch this morning. Thought of you two. It was great fun and we met some new S&L pals. Here's our pix. Hope all is well with you both.

That tall stack of books behind Tom got my wheels turning and here's what I think you should do: you should send them to listeners who agree to review them. I don't know what the rules are, exactly, so maybe you can't do it that way, but I think you should be able to publish the reviews on the website, can't you? I know you've published some listener-written reviews.

The benefit of this vs. just giving them away at events is two-fold: the author gets a review out of it, which is why they sent it to you, and the Sword and Laser community gets to find out if these books are good.

You'd have to come up with a way to decide who gets which book, but you can do a drawing or something? Does the Patreon funds give you enough to cover the cost of mailing these out? If not, asking listeners to pay the shipping cost would ensure they'd be invested enough to definitely write a review. It would still be cheaper than buying the book.

Love the show! Beelissa "

--- "Hi Guys.

Love the podcast. This may be a little off-topic, but you're two erudite people, so I'm hoping you can help.Veronica, last podcast I heard you agree with Tom by saying ""yeah-no"" and then going on to say why you agree with him so much.Can you help me understand why I'm hearing this more and more, all over the place. It's no longer just a simple yes, or no, it has become ""yeah-no"" or ""no-yeah"" WTF? Why?Will there be a new word in the dictionary soon, ""yeah-no"" ?This drives me almost as crazy as hearing the word ""literally"" used incorrectly all the time now.Ugh.

Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.

Ellen DeGeneres is apparently interested in adapting Naomi Novik's Uprooted as a film. But, we all know there's a long road from "interest" to "released." Just ask Neil Gaiman. The good news is Gaiman's American Gods is finally green-lit for TV! So there's hope. Unless you're a god from the Continent! More about that as we wrap up The City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett.

Andy: SyFy slipped in a second trailer for "The Expanse" via their YouTube channel. Initially, it seems identical to the first trailer, but there are a few scenes scattered throughout which are not in the original. It looks amazing.

BARE YOUR SWORD

I'm fairly certain I'm doing this wrong but hey at least I'm doing it. I was wondering if you have read the Adventurers Wanted series by M.L. Forman? if not it would be Awesome if you could showcase his first book Slathbog's Gold on your show. he has 4 books out and the 5th is on the way but he had a stroke last year and has been struggling with his writing and it would be Great if more people were made aware of his stories so they can show him support and encourage him to keep writing! thank you and I hope you are having a Great day.

P.S. just because he is my all time favorite Author you should read Saxon Andrew if you haven't already, all of his books are Awesome!!!

Dany

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Hello.I love the podcast and have been listening for a year or so now.I have tried writing my first novel but was informed by a friend that the world I had created, had the same mechanics as the Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell.The plot was completely different but the way ships moved and fought were similar. I read some of the books and they were brilliant. (Very unique! Very different to normal space books)Thus ended my writing career and my dreams.

My question is. How long (if at all) should I wait to write again? The ideas won't leave me but I don't want to be seen as plagiarizing someone's work!When can a revolutionary idea be used by others in their own unique way?

Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.

We talk with author Beth Cato, author of The Clockwork Dagger, about why healers are never the hero in genre fiction -- and how she decided to change that. We also press her for baked brie recipes and discover how the Foo Fighters helped shape Octavia Leander.

First off we now have a 100% record picking Nebula-award winning books for the club. That’s 100% of the last two years. So take note Nebula-wanters! Also we’re very excited about a new series from University of Illinois Press called the Masters of Science Fiction. You can find out William Gibson’s secrets!

Sky Stealing Rob's post from another group that shall not be named - New Riyria Chronicles book and chance for bonus goodies like awesome t-shirts. Due to various deadlines, Mr. Sullivan has decided to self-publish the 3rd Riyria Chronicles book and is doing a Kickstarter.

BARE YOUR SWORD

I am new to the Sword & Laser podcast and just really podcasting in general. It's amazing to find a medium where similar interests are explored and expounded upon. Having said that, I'm slowly catching up from earlier podcasts on Sword & Laser but upon listening to the Elizabeth Bear author spotlight I learned that your a fan of Grimdark (Abercrombie). I'm a huge fan of the genre and have read and found the following authors/books truly fascinating: Abercrombie (First Law), Heroes, Best Served Cold, Brent Weeks (Night Angel), Brian McClellan (Powder Mage Trilogy), Brian Staveley (Emperor's Blades), Luke Scull (Grim Company), and most recently Mark Smylie (The Barrow) which was amazing but yet found certain parts uncomfortable to get through. Right now I'm reading Marc Turner's (When The Heavens Fall).

Based on your experience with Grimdark and the Fantasy genre and what I have been reading, I was hoping you could shed some light on some other author's and their books that would fit the mold of what I am currently reading.

I'm really looking forward to what you have to say. Thank you so much for your time. Hopefully I'll be able to get up to speed on the podcast shortly enough. Thanks for your time.Best,Paul

Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.

Peter Orullian wears many hats. He is an author, musician, and has worked for many years at Microsoft on the XBox team. Today we talk about his series The Vault of Heaven, get the scoop on his all-time favorite music, and hear why Peter believes there is no such thing as writer's block.

We congratulate John Scalzi on his book deal (while Veronica teases about his Lock In Sequel’s title), applaud Ernest Cline’s choice of audiobook narrator and have polar opposite opinions about Leigh Brackett’s “Sword of Rhiannon.”

Joanna: Holy crap, John Scalzi just signed a $3.4 million deal with Tor for his next 13 books. Well, if he still thought that he hadn't "made it", he has no excuse for that, now. Given his blog, though, I don't think imposter syndrome was something he suffers much anymore, if at all. More details, including the plan of books.

You'll get $10 in credits to back a book you'd like to read! If you've already created an account and have backed one of the S&L contest entrants, you've already received an additional $5 to keep the momentum going! So head over to the S&L Collection contest and back your favorites!"

Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks .

Alright, I'm that guy. I'm the guy that read the ""Song of Ice and Fire"" books years ago, and now is watching how the television adaptation is playing out. I feel this brings up an interesting precedent. Normally a film or TV version is based on novels (or in some cases the other way round). But this series brings up an interesting paradox:

If the Novel series were begun first, but the final TV episodes aired before the book series concluded, which one is CANON?

Normally we have one or the other to point to so we can say ""...well Originally this happened but in the film .... etc"" This will be hard to parse as an avid reader.

Our show is entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.

Rucksack Universe Author and Pratchett Enthusiast, Anthony St. Clair joins us to wrap up our reading of Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters. Is Granny Weatherwax a conduit for Pratchett's righteous anger? Does Tom live next to Nanny Ogg? All these mysteries and more revealed.

Just wanted to drop a note quick and say that Tom I immediately thought oh man this is like Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy for fantasy too as I got into this book. It really has that same vibe and I also had no idea Pratchett's work was like that. Fun stuff.

Also I am listening to the audio version and it appears to be an older recording so I could see why that has put some off but I am kind of enjoying the old school vibe.

Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks

We're excited and fearful about a new chapter from George R.R. Martin's Winds of Winter, we're hopeful about new books from John Scalzi and Ann Leckie and we're just a little wistful and/or angry about the Hugos.

Just a quick heads up that the Discworld Reading Order Guide now has an official Facebook page!We are gearing up toward releasing the final (sad, I know) 3.0 version of the Guide soon and will be taking suggestions for the draft on the /r/Discworld subreddit and on Facebook once the draft is published. Looking forward to hearing from S&L Pratchett fans.

Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks

We give our last thoughts on The Goblin Emperor, kick of our April pick, Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett and discuss why some author names are bigger than their titles. But what really gets this episode going is the debate about whether a reader has the right to "clean up" an author's language.

Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks

We bid adieu to Terry Pratchett and commemorate him with one more book pick next month. We cheer for Chuck Wendig being picked for the next Star Wars novel. And we wonder if we are too much like the Goblin Emperor. Are you?

Hey guys, just heard your podcast for the first time and really enjoyed it.

I'm a designer and concept artist that works in film and games and just thought I'd share the fact that I just finished working with Denis (Den-ee) on his upcoming sci fi film The Story of Your Life which will star Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.

I can't say anything about the movie i just worked on, but I wanted to voice my support for Denis as the choice to direct the new Bladerunner. People may not be super familiar with him, but if they watch his films, they'll see that he's could do a great job with it. He's got a kind of dark, gritty style and , fingers crossed, could be what this new Bladerunner film needs. I really like the idea of a less "Hollywood" type of director tackling this story.

Anyway, thanks! And if you'd like to see what kind of fantasy and scifi design work I do, please check out my site: www.theartofpeterkonig.com

Next time we'll kick off a Terry Pratchett book. Watch the goodreads group for the announcement of which one

ADDENDUMS

Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks

So much good news! Some of our favorite stories are becoming movies and TV shows and we even have good news of a popular indie author getting picked up by Tor. And we even make a stab at predicting the Nebula winner. Yet controversy rages in the Untheileneise court. Especially about how to pronounced Untheileneise.

I also wanted to comment on the topic of alternative sexuality in SciFi. It's funny because it seems like the last few books I have read in the genre are in fact exploring the idea that in the future sexuality isn't your standard hetero relationship. The "Commonwealth Saga" by Peter F. Hamilton had many different types of partnering, as a standard course throughout. Which also continued in his "The Dreaming Void" series. Also "Hollow World" by Michael J. Sullivan had a very experimental play on sexuality (can't go into it since... Spoilers) and was really the whole point of the book. I know these are just a few books, but it just feels like many of the newer books coming out have mixed things up. Or at least not taken a hetero relationship as a standard assumption. - Travis E

Gary Whitta is an award-winning screenwriter who wrote The Book of Eli and worked on the first Star Wars standalone film. So when he had an idea for a dark historical fantasy story he wrote a book. Why? We ask him that, about successfully crowdfunding his novel, and much more on this episode!

We have a whole Wheel of Time pilot mystery to solve and then on top of it George RR Martin says any character in the Game of Thrones series could be killed even if they’re safe in the book. WHAT?! Hands off the Imp! Also we explore the mystery of why Tom didn’t like Annihilation more, even though he wanted to.

Terpkristin: Obviously, everybody is upset that the next book in the Song of Ice and Fire series (The Winds of Winter) is not coming in 2015. However, there is some good news as GRRM announced that his Dunk & Egg stories are finally coming to a stand-alone collection on October 6. This edition will be illustrated "on virtually every page" by Gary Gianni. GRRM's announcement can be read at his LJ site.

Ben: the Locus Recommended Reading List itself is a worthy quick burn. Each year it comes out in February highlighting what Locus Reviewers collectively regard as the best genre work to come out in a given year. It covers everything from YA to grimdark and from literary SFnal works to action heavy space opera. Its much longer than an award's short list and many people use the list to give them ideas what great works they might have missed from the previous year.

When you rule the world of powder mages you can do what you want. Brian McClellan wields his powder for good. In addition to delivering us the complete Powder Mage trilogy with the third book The Autumn Republic, Brian is going to bring us a second trilogy in the same universe, all while growing his own spaghetti sauce and keeping bees. Impressive. Most impressive.